Wednesday, September 23, 2015

detail from the share certificate belowsignature of the artist Tomasz in lower right borderdouble-click image to enlarge

Collector gems on Facebook

Last week a collector friend tagged me in a Facebook post. I was pleasantly suprised reading that he "nominated" me for the #scripophilychallenge. Cool. The idea is that, once nominated, you post an image of your favorite bond or share certificate on Facebook, explain briefly why you like it, and, important, that you nominate three other collector friends. Certainly an opportunity to discover what more scripophily gems are out there. Sounds like fun, doesn't it.

Basically, the game is an online chain letter which contains a message that attempts to convince the recipients (the nominated ones) to make a number of copies of the message and then pass them on to a number of recipients. The scripophily community on Facebook isn't a big one, so be careful, try to nominate friends who have not been nominated yet. Otherwise, your friends might end up getting nominated ten times a week for the entire season.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The International Bond and Share Society, sets its next (members only) auction date to 2 October 2015. This auctions counts more than 200 lots, representing about 40 countries and an equal number of themes.

Paleis voor Volksvlijt te Amsterdam

in English: Amsterdam Crystal Palace

Share of 2.5 Gulden, 1869

lot 138 in the auction

double-click image to enlarge

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Founded 1856 to exploit a building for national and international exhibitions

of industry, theatrical and musical performances. The palace, based on

Paxton’s Crystal Palace in London, was completed near the Frederiksplein

in Amsterdam, 1864. Erected with glass and iron, it was the creation of

Cornelis Outshoorn. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed this building on 18 april 1929.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Millions of Syrian families have left their destroyed country in search for better human conditions. So far, a few hundred thousand parents and children made a dangerous journey to Europe in order to find a better life. There are many more to come. Few of Europe's national leaders recognize the current scale of this tragedy and realize how the refugee problematics will evolve. These capable politicians are prepared to take fully fledged measures. Bravo Germany, "a strong country will manage", indeed.

Other European politicians do not dare to take the right decisions. They forgot that, long ago, our great-grandparents were also, in times of war, on the run with children and elderly. And our great-grandparents sought and found protection in European countries too.

Yes, this is not the usual scripophily post, but I feel upset about how slow some of our national leaders are addressing the situation. They should be aware that the decision whether or not to provide shelter, relief and care, is not a political but a humane one.